


Browse With Confidence

by james



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 04:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17759978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: Tony might have lost his genius - or at least his computer.Tony Stark Bingo Square - T5 Lost Their Powers





	Browse With Confidence

**Author's Note:**

> Canon is a sort of hand-wavy mash of no-Ultron movie, JARVIS is alive and just roll with it, mkay?

Tony wandered into his workshop, mug of coffee in his hand and eyes not exactly open, but since when did he need to see to navigate his own damn workshop? As soon as he thought it, he felt his foot hit something, metal skidding along the floor. He caught himself as he fell forward, then opened his eyes to glare at Dum-E. 

The bot looked chagrined, even though Tony didn't actually know for sure the bot had been the one to leave anything lying on the floor, but it was the best guess. Tony had gone to bed sober last night, and early, so it clearly hadn't been _him._

Dum-E whirred at him and rolled around behind Tony, bumping into what turned out to be a wrench and knocking it further under the table.

“Oh, my God, it's fine, Dum-E, leave it, you're going to knock everything--” Tony watched as the bot rolled into the table again, claw reaching down for the wrench. Slowly, the table tipped over and everything – papers, tools, half-finished circuit boards Tony didn't even remember the purpose of – rolled off and onto the floor.

Tony took another sip of his coffee. He waited, patiently, as Dum-E beeped happily and spun around, holding the wrench proudly, handing it out for Tony like a prize.

“Yes, thank you, Dum-E, go sit in the corner and don't touch anything, ever.” Tony pointed and his bot beeped happily at him again before rolling around the mess he'd made to go sit in the designated corner. 

Tony sighed. “JARVIS, boot up whatever the hell I was working on last night.” He didn't exactly remember, just one more hazard of having a live-in boyfriend who was annoyingly good at enticing Tony out of his workshop without even a tablet to continue working on. How was he supposed to make progress on any of his ground-breaking projects when Stephen kept offering sex and cuddles and a warm bed and promises of breakfast in the morning? Stephen didn't even cook, he made cereal or asked JARVIS to order in, which Tony was perfectly capable of doing himself, but for some reason he fell for it every time Stephen told him to stay in bed for awhile longer, it's fine, I'll make breakfast for us, and coffee, get some more sleep, Tony.

It was probably a magic spell, Tony figured. Just like the magic spell that turned his tablet off whenever he tried to bring it to bed with him; a horrible, awful, ghastly spell cast with a single wave of Stephen's hand. How was that even fair, Tony wanted to know. Even if it meant falling asleep tucked up against a warm body, cuddled and sated and comfortable. Still, completely unfair and someday Stephen was going to get what was coming to him.

At the very least, Tony was going to lodge a complaint. With..who, he had no idea. Maybe the next time Wong showed up in the middle of Tony's garage, acting like he wasn't fondling the Pagani Zonda. As if Tony would even let Wong ride in the trunk.

Tony took another sip of his coffee, realised he hadn't heard JARVIS respond, and also none of the screens were displaying. He walked over to the workshop's main table and tapped on it. Maybe Dum-E had managed to turn something important off. The keyboard built into the desk lit up, and Tony banged at it, completely at random, just to see what would happen.

A screen lit up and Tony blinked at it. He sniffed his coffee, pinched his arm – ow, what the fuck – and waved his hand in front of the screen.

“JARVIS. What the fuck is that.”

“You requested I boot up your previous project, sir. It will take just a moment,” came JARVIS' response. Tony took a step back, because that thing was still on his screen, in his workshop. And his computer was _booting up._ Ten seconds, now, and his computer _wasn't on._

“Why is there an Internet Explorer icon in my workshop. Why the fuck-- JARVIS, call Stephen.”

There was a pause, then, “Yes, Tony?” Stephen sounded like he'd been awake and working for hours, which was not at all true, it was barely ten am.

“Am I in an alternate dimension?”

There was another pause, then a portal appeared in Tony's workshop and Stephen stepped through. His cloak waved its corners at Tony, then pulled itself off Stephen's shoulders and flew over to rest on Dum-E. There was a lot of hurried beeping from the bot, and once again Tony told himself he did not want to know if those two had learned to communicate. 

Stephen was frowning at him, then he waved a hand, trailing a gold sparkle that Tony was pretty sure was just his lover showing off. Then he shook his head. “It does not appear so. You are in the correct dimension, you are the same Tony Stark I carried to bed last night.”

“Okay, first of all, you did not carry me, I walked..floated. Your cloak-- not the point. This is the point!” He pointed at the screen. 

Stephen frowned. “I...don't know what you're referring to,” he said carefully, like he was about to check for alien influence, concussion, or alcohol next.

Tony was all for that, because seriously, what the fuck. “Why is there an Internet Explorer icon on my computer screen? Why the fuck--” He looked again, to check, and okay he was going to have to scrap everything and rebuild from scratch. “Twenty seconds! It took twenty seconds for my computer to boot up! What universe am I even in? Did I lose my genius overnight? Why is my computer taking SEVERAL SECONDS TO BOOT UP?” Tony realised he was still holding his coffee mug as the coffee spilled over his hand. He rubbed it dry on his shirt, and waved his other hand at Stephen. “Do your thing again! Are you sure this is the real me?”

There was a moment when Stephen just looked at him, almost like he was trying not to laugh, or demand to know why Tony had called him down. Stephen bit his lip, and Tony normally would have offered to do that for him, what was he even here for. Then Stephen just glanced upwards at the ceiling. “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“I believe we can consider this a success,” he said thoughtfully, and Tony felt his jaw drop.

“What did you do?”

Stephen smiled calmly and took a drink from a tea cup that Tony was very sure had not been there a second ago. 

Tony's eyes narrowed. “JARVIS. Did you do this?”

“I will need you to clarify what 'this' you are referring to,” JARVIS began, sounding so innocent that Tony _knew._

“Did you do this to me,” he pointed at the Internet Explorer icon on his screen. “We talked about this, JARVIS. You're not allowed to play pranks on me, only all the other Avengers.”

“Indeed, sir,” JARVIS said, and oh yes there was that tone of smug satisfaction, faint, but there. “However, you did not forbid me from assisting the good Doctor with any such endeavor.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at Stephen. “You put Windows on my computer,” he accused. “I could have you killed and no one would blame me.” He took a step towards Stephen, who didn't look at all concerned. “I'm going to have to completely wipe my servers and rebuild everything from scratch just to be rid of that contamination, you realise. I'll be down here for _hours._ ” 

“Which you were going to do anyway, next month, because you've decided you had no idea what you were doing five years ago the last time you rebuilt them,” Stephen said. “I figured, if you were doing that anyway, why not have some fun first?”

“Fun? Fun?!” Tony poked him in the chest; Stephen didn't even sway backwards. “You put Windows on my computer! How would you like it if I put lemon in your tea?”

Stephen made a face. “That's uncalled for.” But then he grinned, smug and satisfied. “I”m heading to Tibet this afternoon, for the next week at least, to do some research. This way you won't miss me.” He leaned in and gave Tony a light kiss.

“You... you're evil. And yes, I will-- no, I probably won't,” Tony admitted. “I really do have to scrub everything clean and once I get started I won't even remember you exist.” He was mostly joking, and a little bit not, but that was all right – Stephen understood. He could get the same way when he was researching some new magic something or other, or trying to learn a new spell, or create one. 

Tony was trying to learn more about it, and he really did listen to every word Stephen said when he talked about his magic. But there was still that whole “magic” part of the whole thing and how it didn't follow the rules or suggestions of science in the least, which Tony couldn't quite wrap his head around, despite the fact he saw it in action every day. Despite the fact a flying, maybe-sentient piece of outerwear brought him a mug of coffee sometimes and did a much better job of making it than Tony's own robots.

Maybe he should give Dum-E an upgrade while he was rebuilding the servers. 

Maybe he'd double check he was still a genius, first. Just in case.

“You owe me pancakes,” he told Stephen, because if he wasn't leaving until the afternoon, there were more important things Tony could be doing.


End file.
